Chapter One

(Fang's POV)

My cell woke me up. Its annoying ringing was right in my ear. Groaning, I picked up my iPhone and answered it. "What?" I asked, sounding half-asleep and grumpy.

"Dude! You've got to get over here! My new adoptive sister is coming today!" Iggy said. Iggy is my best friend. He's taller than me (I'm six feet even, he's six-two), with strawberry blond hair and pale skin. He's a pyromaniac, and an expert at anything explosive related, and he could pick pretty much any lock. He has blue eyes, and is the best cook I knew. He's sixteen, like me. His actual name is James Griffiths.

His little brother, Gazzy, was ten, with blond, spiky hair, the tips of which were dyed dark blue, and sky blue eyes. His nickname is pretty self explanatory. He, like Iggy, was a pyromaniac and Iggy's right-hand man. He helped Iggy build bombs. His actual name is Zephyr Griffiths.

Their little sister, Angel, has blond curly hair and blue eyes. She is adorable (Ugh. I hate that word. It makes me sound so gay.). She's, well, angelic, but she has a secret weapon: Bambi Eyes. She could rule the world with Bambi Eyes. Her actual name is Angela Griffiths.

Their mom, Dr. Martinez (aka Dr. M), is tall with dark hair and brown eyes. Their dad left a few years ago, but he's rich, and sends them lots of money every month. Not that I'm complaining. My mom's rich too. No dad.

"Alright, Ig, calm down. I'll just grab Nudge and be there in a second." I said. Nudge is my adoptive sister. She is a light mocha color, with long, dark hair. She's also a fashion-obsessed chatterbox. We call her the Nudge Channel. And it was random too. She could go from talking about the weather, to how "hot" Taylor Laughtner is. Please. I beat him any day.

"Make sure you wear something nice! We want to make a good first impression!" Iggy said before hanging up.

I sighed and got up. I threw on my black jeans, black Nikes, and a dressy, black button up shirt. I rolled up the sleeves until they were at my elbow and unbuttoned the first two buttons so I could actually breathe. I tried to do something with my hair, but just decided to leave it. My bangs would just fall in my face no matter what I did.

I shook Nudge awake. Nudge isn't a morning person, so I ended up having to literally drag her out of bed. "OW! FANG!!" she yelled as her head hit her floor with a loud and, sadly, satisfying thump. I know that that sounds bad, but the last time she woke me up, she dragged me out of bed and I hit my head on the edge of my nightstand. Mom said it was a miracle that I didn't crack my head open.

I shrugged. "Sorry, but we've got to go. Iggy's new sibling is coming. And Angel asked you to come over." I said. "Hurry up. We leave in twenty minutes."

I walked out as she yelled about how unfair that was, and that she needed more time to get ready. I grabbed two bowls and pour cereal for both of us. Mom wasn't home. She left pretty early for work. I poured milk into my cereal and sat down, wolfing down my breakfast. Nudge came running in about twenty minutes later, grabbed her bowl, and ate even faster than I did.

"You're going to choke." I warned, turning up the TV. Sure enough, two seconds later, I heard her choke and start coughing. I walked over to her and thumped her on the back several times.

I opened my mouth to say "I told you so", but Nudge glared at me and said, "Don't say a word." At my shrug, she added, "You're already so good at it."

I shrugged again. "You talk a lot. I don't. The world is balanced." I grabbed her arm and dragged her out the door. "Now come on. We're gonna be late."

I dragged her next door to Iggy's house and knocked on the door. I knocked on the door. Iggy threw it opened and grabbed my arm, dragging both me and Nudge (I still had her arm) into the house.

"Relax, Iggy." Nudge said. "I'm sure she'll love you guys."

"I hope so. Angel would be crushed if she didn't." Iggy said. He kept shifting around, so I knew he was nervous. He dragged us into the kitchen, where everyone else was waiting. Even Ella was there.

Ella is Iggy's girlfriend for two years. She has dark hair and eyes. She was shorter Nudge, who was about five-six. She was also Nudge's age, so you can imagine how surprised we all were when they started going out. They really do like each other though.

"Nudge! Fang!" Angel yelled, running up to us and hugging both of us. Nudge was like a sister to Angel. I was kind of like her father figure. She didn't remember much of her dad, and she never had a guy, that wasn't her brother, that she could look up to as a dad.

I hugged her back, and Nudge followed her back over to Ella as the two girls tried to calm Angel and Dr. M down. Guess I had to try to do my best for Iggy and Gazzy.

"So, how do you feel?" I asked.

"Nervous." Gazzy said.

Iggy nodded in agreement. "Not as bad as Mom and Angel, but still pretty nervous." he added.

"I'm sure she'll love you guys." I said.

Iggy shrugged. "Maybe. Emily, the agent that's in charge of her, told us that she bounced from foster home to foster home. Some were 'abusive'." he said, putting air quotes around abusive. "She didn't go into detail. She entered the orphanage when she was five. Apparently, she doesn't talk to people she doesn't know very well. But she supposedly sings, and she has all these different instruments. She's never told anyone how she ended up at the orphanage, or what happened to her parents. Obviously."

"Yeah, that's why we're so nervous." Gazzy added, shifting uncomfortably.

"Don't worry about it. That's the thing. You've just got to let her get used to you, and then she'll start talking. But how do they know she sings if she hardly talks to anyone?" I asked.

"Apparently, Emily heard her sing once. She was ticked afterwards, but Emily said it was worth it because she had the best voice she'd ever heard." Iggy said thoughtfully. "Maybe after we get her to open up we can convince her to sing in our band. If not permanently, then occasionally. Also, she's tough and claustrophobic. She's not good with physical contact either. She gets very…defensive, apparently."

I nodded. We were in a band called The Flock. I was the lead singer and electric guitar player, Gazzy played bass, Iggy played drums, Nudge played the keyboard, and this other kid we knew, Zack, was our sound effects and light guy. We were pretty popular, and good, if I say so myself. "Sounds cool."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Dr. M rushed to the door, the rest of us following. Dr. M opened the door to reveal a woman and a girl that looked about fifteen years old. The woman was tall with red hair and green eyes, but I ignored her. I was too busy studying the insanely hot girl next to her. I was so glad I wasn't Iggy's brother at this point.

She had dirty blond hair with dark blue streaks and eyes the color of melted chocolate. She had an athletic, but curvy, body. Her face was guarded, showing absolutely no emotion. She was tense and alert, studying all of us. She was wearing ripped blue jeans and a black shirt. Her shirt said, "If you can read this, you are in my Round House Kicking Range." This made me chuckle slightly.

"Hello Emily." Dr. M said.

Emily smiled. "Hello Valencia. It's good to see you again. This is Maximum Ride. Max for short. Her instruments will be brought in later today." She turned to Max. "Max, do you have something to say to them?" she asked.

Max rolled her eyes, but gave us a short nod and a small smile. "Hey."

"That translates into 'Hello, thank you for adopting me.'" Emily said. "You'll easily learn all of her little habits. It'll just take awhile."

Max walked into the room and looked around. She seemed mildly interested. Angel walked up to her and beamed up at her. "Hi, I'm Angel!" she said. She held up her stuffed bear. It was brown with an angel's gown. "This is Celeste!"

Max looked down at Angel, obviously surprised, but decided to humor her. She took the beat and looked at it. She gently smiled at Angel and handed her the bear back. "Do you like him?" Angel asked uncertainly.

Max nodded. "He's pretty cool. I had one kind of like that when I was around your age." she said, smiling. But if you looked into her eyes, you could see some pain there, as if these weren't her best memories. Angel then decided it was her responsibility to introduce the rest of us.

Max gave us a slight nod when Angel was done, then she turned to look at the photos that were strewn around the room. She picked one up that she seemed interested in. "Max, I'm leaving now, alright? Just call, or text, me if you need something." Emily said. Max looked at her over her shoulder, nodded, and waved. Emily smiled and placed a hand tentatively on Max's shoulder. Max stiffened at first, but then relaxed some. "Bye, Max."

"See you later. Be careful with the instruments when you come back." Max replied, looking at the picture again.

"So, Max, would you like to see your room?" Dr. M asked after Emily left.

Max nodded. She followed Dr. M up the stairs, the rest of us following closely behind. Dr. M walked all the way down the hall to the guest bedroom. Max grimaced when she saw the walls were painted a light tan. But she put her bag on the bed and started to look around. She immediately went out into the balcony.

She relaxed more as she walked outside. She rolled her shoulders, frowning in discomfort for a split second before smiling and looking out at the view. The balcony faced the back of the house, which was covered in trees. And the sun set in this direction too.

Max grinned at Dr. M over her shoulder. "Nice view." she said.

Dr. M smiled. "I thought you'd like the balcony. You can repaint the walls if you want, since you don't like the tan." she replied.

Max seemed surprised. "It's not the tan. It's light colors in general." she said. She ran her hand along the balcony rail, which was painted white. "The only light color I like is white."

"Note to self," Iggy said, "don't buy Max something light colored as a present."

Max rolled her eyes.

"So, Max, what kind of instruments do you play?" I asked, mildly curious. I didn't expect it to be much. Boy, was I wrong.

"Electric, acoustic, and bass guitars, piano, keyboard, etc, etc. And my voice." she replied.

"But your voice isn't an instrument." I protested.

"Yes it is. It's the oldest instrument there is." she replied.

It was then that Nudge exploded. Metaphorically, of course. I was actually surprised she'd held it in this long. "OMG! You play all of that? You should be in our band! I play keyboard, Fang sings and plays electric guitar, Jerry plays bass, and Iggy plays drums. We're called The Flock and we're really popular. Have you ever–" she was cut off by Max's hand. Max had stared at her, obviously impressed, for a couple seconds before walking up to her and covering her mouth.

Max looked her up and down, almost like she was sizing her up. Nudge shifted self-consciously under Max's intense stare. Finally, Max raised an eyebrow at her, smiling slightly. "I am never giving you sugar." she said, slight amusement in her voice as she removed her hand.

Nudge smile sheepishly up at her. "Sorry." she said. Max just shrugged in response.

"Are you hungry Max?" Dr. M asked. Max perked up and nodded enthusiastically. "Come on. I'll make us some lunch."

"I would offer to help, but…well, let's just say you won't have a house by the time I'm done." Max said, straight-faced. Iggy and I chuckled slightly while the others tried to decide whether she was serious or not.

"Thanks for the offer, but I like our house." Dr. M replied, smiling over her shoulder.

"So, what kind of name is Maximum?" I asked Max.

"And Fang is better?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Touché." I mumbled grudgingly.

Max rolled her eyes. At my immaturity, I guess.

"Come on you two. Stop flirting and get your sandwiches." Nudge said.

"We're not flirting!" Max and I yelled at the same time. Then we looked at each other in surprise. "Weird." Again, we both said it at the same time.

"Seriously, guys, cut it out. That's just creepy." Iggy said.

"Kind of like those creepy twins in that phone commercial." Max mumbled before grabbing her food. I rolled my eyes and followed her. We'd just got done eating when the bell rang.